4/11/2018

Advantech
(TAIEX: 2395), a leader of the global intelligent systems market, today
announced a joint venture with TECHPRO — a highly-regarded Vietnamese systems
integrator and Advantech partner — to create a subsidiary in Vietnam. Among the
attendees of the ceremony to unveil the subsidiary’s creation were Richard Shih
(representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural office in Vietnam) and many
of Advantech’s Vietnamese and South Korean clients.

According
to Chaney Ho, Advantech’s executive director, Vietnam is the first country in
which the company has established a foothold as it aims to expand strategically
into Southeast Asia this year. The rationale behind the company’s preference
for Vietnam is that the country has implemented new open economic strategies in
recent years, with its manufacturing purchasing managers’ index staying above
50 over the past five years. Plus, Vietnam is the only Southeast Asian market exhibiting
continued growth. Moreover, as Chinese wages continue to rise, Vietnam is now
regarded as the next “world factory” after China, having emerged as a favorite
among foreign investors, with foreign direct investments reaching up to US$15
billion annually. Vietnam is also the most-favored overseas market for
manufacturing firms, attracting foreign investors from South Korea, Japan, and
Singapore. Many of Advantech’s major clients from Japan and South Korea have also
increasingly shifted their manufacturing plants to Vietnam.

Do
Duc Hau, general manager of Advantech’s Vietnamese subsidiary, stated that to
attract more foreign manufacturing firms to Vietnam and further attract and
serve clients at home, the subsidiary has committed itself to “providing
training for and transferring technology solutions to our domestic partners” in
order to boost their continued efforts to optimize and customize their
respective service portfolios. To this end, the subsidiary will offer its
partners more robust training, collaborate with local universities to develop
and implement training and scholarship programs, and send talented Vietnamese
students to Taiwan for work and academic pursuits.

Chaney
Ho added that by positioning Vietnam as one of its strategic Southeast Asian
markets, Advantech will not only help its corporate-group clients from South
Korea, Japan and other countries to replicate their manufacturing processes in
Vietnam, but also expand its Vietnamese market share.